'Ouch' Potato

Closure of UK Independent Living Fund will cost  Billions-Debbie Jolly Posted: 07 Jan 2012 12:29 PM PST The cost to the state of scrapping the UK Independent Living Fund (ILF)  will be over 154 million pounds per year[i] in institutional costs based on  current levels of 21,000 people that receive ILF. If we accept that a further  41,000 people would have been entitled to receive ILF since it closed its  doors to new applicants in June 2010 the figure rises to a minimum of over  462 million. The Independent Living Fund (ILF) allows ‘severely disabled’ people to stay  in their own homes and out of residential institutions through the employment  of personal assistants. The likely closure of ILF in 2015 for existing applicants  will cause more misery to disabled people and cost the state billions with many  disabled people being forced into residential institutions. The cost to the state  of scrapping ILF is likely to top over 462 million pounds per year in institutional  costs. These figures do not include the loss to the exchequer of tax revenues  disabled people generate by employing personal assistants, nor extra health  service costs that will be incurred by the closure of ILF. While the Dilnot report suggested that individuals would pay a percentage of  their own institutional costs in the future, the majority of disabled people will  simply be unable to do that. Therefore the cost goes to the state or more  specifically the tax payer. The stated purpose of the closure of ILF is claimed  to be cost savings, yet figures based on potential predictions show the opposite  will be true. The government’s own social care health committee say: ‘Inevitably the cost  of care is not static, 2011 figures had increased by 5.1% and 3.3% respectively  from 2010. Many care homes can cost more than £50,000 per year’. However,  given the loss of ILF and restrictions on many local authority eligibility criteria to  ‘critical’ to be eligible for social services – more and more disabled people will find  their living, economic and social conditions deteriorating with additional adverse  effects on their health. A reliable 2010 residential cost estimate is given in the Scottish governments’  quoted estimate of £72,000 per year based on ‘Service User A’ who is ‘a 59 year  old male who has multiple sclerosis’.  The cut backs on ILF, Disability Living  Allowance , incapacity benefit changeovers and cuts in local authority funds of  up to 30% make it more likely that this particular ‘service user’ and others like  him will be heading for the more expensive option of the residential home. Service user A is 59 and would be in residential ‘care’ for a number of years,  based on the average life-span arrived at by the governments’ own Office of  National Statistics. The cost to the state would amount to 15 million one  hundred and twenty thousand over the lifetime of ‘service user A’ at 2010  prices. The government appear intent on contravening article 19 of the UN Convention  on the Rights of Disabled Persons to live independently in the community with  the right to employ personal assistants, as well as the European Convention on  Human Rights and the diluted Equality Act 2010. The stated purpose of the  closure of ILF is claimed to be cost savings, yet the figures show the opposite  is true. £37,888 per annum per person is the difference between receiving current  average payout of ILF at 2011 and the cost of residential care at 2010 cost  levels, excluding future inflation and excluding revenue from tax receipts of  personal assistants employed by disabled people using ILF. 154 million two hundred thousand per year costs are based on the current  number of 21,000 users of ILF@ £74,000 per year in institutional costs per  person.  ILF has been closed to new applicants since June 2010. The overall  figure of those in the qualifying bracket for ILF is likely to be far higher than  the figure of 21,000 people stated by the coalition. The Closure of the Independent Living Fund has been eclipsed by arguments  on the change from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence  Payments, Atos and the Work Capability Assessment and Welfare reform as  the priorities. That’s a lot for UK disability activists to fight, but it’s time to  bring back the closure of ILF and its impacts. Sign Disabled People against Cuts (DPAC’s) letter on ILF here  Originally posted on http://www.digitalvoice.eu/ [i] Figure based on a cost of 74,000 per year for institutional costs

Vigil & lobby of Parliament:oppose Welfare Reform  Bill-1pm Wed 11 January Posted: 07 Jan 2012 12:22 PM PST     No going back to Dickensian days – defend benefit rights, stop evictions   Vigil & lobby of Parliament   1pm Wed 11 January Oppose the Welfare Reform Bill & benefit caps.   Cap greedy landlords, not low-income people!   Meet opposite Parliament – Lords’ entrance  Abingdon St SW1   All Welcome   On 11 January, the Lords’ debate on the Welfare Reform Bill continues.   The Bill threatens basic entitlement to housing and other benefits – a  roof over our heads.  Benefit cap of £500 a week including rent: larger families including  those with informally-fostered children, single mother families, households  with disabled people, families of colour more likely to be on lower incomes –  face eviction from central London and other cities if the cap goes through.   For more see here. The housing benefit cap is already forcing people to go without food  and heating to pay the rent, or into unbearable overcrowding. Like in the  US , people will end up homeless, destitute, begging and on the street. The Social Fund relied on to furnish a new home or cope with emergencies –  children coming back from care, women fleeing domestic violence, people  coming out of hospital and prison – is being abolished.  People won’t be able  to start a new life or escape a violent relationship; they’ll be at the mercy of  loan sharks. Disabled children and adults face all-round cuts: to disability benefits,  benefit additions and concessions – a return to hardship and charity. Child Benefit– which all mothers earn and all children need – will be taken  from the poorest families by the benefit cap. Income Support, which recognises the contribution of mothers and other  carers, is being abolished and replaced with back-to-work conditions as soon  as the child turns one. Protest forced the government to drop plans to cut mobility money for people  living in residential homes.  But other cuts to disabled children and adults are  still in the Bill.  On 14 December, after lobbying and testimony from people  affected, the Lords defeated government moves to cut housing benefit by  £12-22 a week for Council tenants who have a spare room. Come and raise your concerns on 11 January.  Bring placards with your  organisation’s name and issues you are concerned about. Lobby the Lords –  support amendments to keep Child Benefit out of the benefit cap, extend  concessions for women fleeing domestic violence, ensure immediate benefit  payments for people coming out of prison, and Zacchaeus 2000 amendments  to protect claimants from unliveable benefit repayments, sanctions and bailiffs  -   Lobby your MP; contact them to make an appointment or write to them about  your personal situation – find your MP here.   If you are unable to come on the day, ring them or write, for Lords’ addresses  see here; and sign the epetition here. For more info about the day, contact  SMSD and the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust smsd@allwomencount.net   0207 482 2496   PaulNicolson@z2k.org  07961177889